Real Brownfields Deserve Dollars I
read with interest the story on Brownfield development dollars in the
July 20 issue. I applaud Dan Lathrop and other county commissioners who
voted “No” on the Randolph Street project...

Hopping Mad Carlin
Smith is hopping mad (“Will You Get Mad With Me?” 7-20-15). Somebody
filed a fraudulent return using his identity, and he’s not alone. The AP
estimates the government “pays more than $5 billion annually in
fraudulent tax refunds.” Well, many of us have been
hopping mad for years. This is because the number one tool Congress has
used to fix this problem has been to cut the IRS budget –by $1.2 billion
in the last 5 years...

Just Grumbling, No Solutions Mark
Pontoni’s grumblings [recent Northern Express column] tell us much
about him and virtually nothing about those he chooses to denigrate. We
do learn that Pontoni may be the perfect political candidate. He’s
arrogant, opinionated and obviously dimwitted...

A Racist Symbol I
have to respond to Gordon Lee Dean’s letter claiming that the
confederate battle flag is just a symbol of southern heritage and should
not be banned from state displays. The heritage it represents was the
treasonous effort to continue slavery by seceding from a democratic
nation unwilling to maintain such a consummate evil...

Not So Thanks I
would like to thank the individual who ran into and knocked over my
Triumph motorcycle while it was parked at Lowe’s in TC on Friday the
24th. The $3,000 worth of damage was greatly appreciated. The big dent
in the gas tank under the completely destroyed chrome badge was an
especially nice touch...

What to cut?... Time
to talk deficit. Clinton left a budget surplus of over $200 billion.
George Bush left a trillion dollar deficit.

Blind lawmakers... Lou
Ann McKimmy decries the 182 bills passed in Michigan’s fall 2012
session in her lame duck outrage letter. Her issue seems to be there was
no discussion on the bills and there was no time to read and understand
them within the given time period.

Mckimmy would
have credence had she wrote a similar letter after ObamaCare passed in
the dead of night with no discussion and no time to read it.

Capital idea... Yes to the three C’s (re: Rick Coates’ article on making the region a Culinary, Cultural and Craft Farming capital).

The truth about Israel... WORDS!
How easy it is for them to be accepted as inflammatory, baring the view
of the writer’s heart. Recent letters used the term “anti-Semitic” to
describe critics of Israel, as if that gave their words weight. Being
Jewish, I saw “anti-Zionist.”

Missing the mark... I
couldn’t let Stephen Tuttle’s “December 26” column slip by without
comment. Tuttle states: “Christmas Day is the focal point of the giving
season for most of us. And the endpoint.”

Excuse
me, but what is this based on?

Those wondrous women... A few hundred years ago, Edmund Spenser wrote about women: “Such wondrous forms ought rather worshipped be than dared be loved by men of mean degree.”

Had
Spenser been writing in contemporary America he might have penned,
“Such wondrous forms ought rather worshipped be than menaced by
Republicans of mean degree."

Homestead’s Position Disputed Thank
you to the Express for the recent news item about ten local, state, and
national organizations that joined together in a statement calling on
The Homestead Resort and the Michigan Department of Environmental
Quality to work together to correct the problem of incompletely-treated
wastewater spray blowing into an area of Sleeping Bear Dunes National
Lakeshore, rendering it unavailable for public use. Here
is just one clarification...

Done With Snyder Governor
Snyder lowered taxes on well-off businesses while raising nearly
everyone else’s taxes, undermining both education and the labor
movement, which together created Michigan’s strong middle class. His
actions also dismantled protections for our priceless Great Lakes
shorelines...

Gerrymandering is Alive I
have major disagreements with Stephen Tuttle’s column from March 17th.
Let’s start with an agreement that conservatives do control the majority
of the congressional districts and state legislatures, but let’s also
tell the real reason...

Benishek No Environmentalist For
Dan Benishek to say he is responsible for preserving a natural wonder
(Sleeping Bear Preservation Act) is akin to Al Gore saying he invented
the Internet...

CORRECTION: In
the March 17 issue, we mistakenly identified the Holiday Inn as “best
deck scene” in the Traverse City Best area listings. In fact, their new
name is West Bay Beach, a Holiday Inn Resort.

The 11th Traverse City Film Festival is upon us. This is a good thing. It’s an especially good thing if you enjoy movies you would not otherwise have a chance to see. And if you enjoy talking movies with people you wouldn’t otherwise meet.